


To My Partner in Crime

by orgaziam



Series: Life in an Alternate Universe (AU Prompts) [6]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Fluff, Friendship, I don't know if these kinds of parties exist in the UK? So this is very US themed, M/M, Nerd Liam, Nerd Zayn, Superheroes, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Valentine's Day, Young Louis, classroom au, just a cute drabble, relationship, young Liam, young zayn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-29 07:02:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17803274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orgaziam/pseuds/orgaziam
Summary: Liam is the new kid in class. Zayn is the only student who remembers to get him a Valentine's day card.





	To My Partner in Crime

**Author's Note:**

> In case you haven't noticed, Valentine's Day fics are my fav to write.

The room is full of laughter and light-hearted conversations, the nine-year olds eager to dig into their tooth-rotting sweets and folded Valentine's day cards. There are red, white, and pink hand-made decorations hung all across the classroom that the students made earlier that week in art class and later put up with the help of their teacher and roughly twenty rolls of Scotch tape. Each student's desk has a plate filled with pizza slices, cupcakes, chocolates, or cookies, and their respective choice of apple juice or soda. No parent would approve of the horrendous diet being fed to their already-hyperactive kids, but due to it being Valentine's day, it's only fair the kids are spoiled with unhealthy, tooth-rotting foods.

But amidst all of the students engaged in joyous conversations and sharing their tacky, store-bought cards, as they dance around the classroom to kid's bop music, sits a small brown-haired boy in a desk off to the corner, sulking slightly over his plate of cookies. 

The food looked appetizing at first, all of the kids in awe as their teacher set up the mouth-watering deserts on the far side of the room before finally allowing them to line up patiently and take their fair share. But now that everyone around him is enjoying themselves, he can't help but feel slightly left out. 

He wants to join in on the conversations, but he's reminded of how no one handed him anything when they were passing around their respective cards. And since he's still new to the school, he doesn't have anyone in the class that he can call his friend.

 

 

{~}

 

 

Zayn turns away from Louis, the blue-eyed boy who has refused to leave his side since he first stole Zayn's 64-pack of Crayola crayons back in Kindergarten. Instead, his eyes drift to the brown-eyed boy sitting quietly on the far side of the room. He frowns at the sad look on the boy's face, his fingers unconsciously curling around the last card from his box of Valentine's day cards, twitching nervously at the thought of going over to talk to the other boy.

But the boy, the new kid Liam, doesn't even look up despite Zayn staring at him. He just picks at the food on his plate, chin in the palm of his head as he frowns at his desk.

"What are you staring at?" Louis whines, unhappy about Zayn's attention being stolen from him. He was telling Zayn all about how he faked being sick to the nurse last Friday and managed to get picked up early from school by his mum, and he doesn't appreciate being ignored, thank you very much. But Zayn doesn't answer him, just lets his gaze flitter back to Louis in disinterest before he's gazing back at Liam, frowning.

He remembers the first day Liam was introduced to the class. It was only a week ago, but because he was such a new student, no one really talked to him. 

Zayn remembers seeing the Batman shirt the brown-haired boy was wearing on the very first day, itching to approach the boy and talk to him about his comic book collection at home, the one his Baba bought him just a couple weeks ago for his ninth birthday. But before he could march over to the kind-looking boy during recess, Louis had whisked him off towards the playground, forcing Zayn to push him on one of the swings. He wanted to befriend the boy, but it was hard to when his best mate wouldn't leave his side. 

But now, with their Valentine's day party giving them the freedom to talk and move around the classroom freely, is the perfect opportunity.

He gets up from his seat and walks over to the corner where he's sitting, hands still wrapped firmly around the tiny folded card in his hand. He thinks he hears Louis complain at him for walking away, but he already gave the other boy one of his heart-shaped cookies earlier, so he knows Louis will eventually get over it.

He stops when he reaches the boy's desk. Liam still hasn't noticed him, which makes him stand there awkwardly and blushing in discomfort as he suddenly realizes he doesn't know what to say. He settles for squeaking out an awkward "Hi," which has Liam jumping slightly in surprise, his brown eyes peering up at Zayn curiously.

"Hi," Liam responds quietly, and Zayn smiles at him.

"I got you a card," Zayn tells him, unsure of what else to say. Liam tilts his head curiously, eyes peering down to look at the small white paper in Zayn's hand. Zayn smiles and reaches out to him, waiting for the boy's reaction.

Liam stays quiet as he observes the drawing on the paper, opening it to read the inside. Zayn starts feeling nervous, his stomach fluttering like that one time in Kindergarten when he had to climb on a brick to kiss Molly, the blonde girl with the pretty blue eyes. 

He starts rambling to make up for the awkward silence, "I got everyone Marvel cards, because the Avengers are my favorite! But I noticed you liked Batman, and mum wouldn't let me buy a Marvel box AND a Batman box, so I just drew it," he says. Liam looks up at him, eyes wide, still not saying anything, so Zayn continues talking, "It's not very good, but I did my very best. I hope you like it, Leeyum," stretching out the syllables of the other boy's name.

The card has an albeit impressive drawing of the Batman logo on the front, and when opened is an almost-realistic drawing of the superhero himself, with the words, "To My Partner in Crime," scribbled in messy handwriting, followed by "To: Liam, From: Zayn."

Liam doesn't say anything, just continues staring at Zayn quietly before he's suddenly halfway across the classroom, reaching for his backpack that's hung up on the hooks on the far left side of the room. Zayn frowns, clearly not expecting Liam to just walk away from him and not saying anything, and almost turns around to head back to his desk, when he notices Liam pulling a box out of his backpack before he's rushing right back over to where he left Zayn standing.

He smiles when he stands in front of Zayn, rushing to dig a card out of the box in his hand. The box is DC-themed, with various different superheroes on the front, and Liam digs around until his hand finally encloses around the card he was looking for. He holds out the card, a heart-shaped lollipop shoved in the middle of the folded paper and a matching red sticker keeping the two ends of it closed. His cheeks are tinted when Zayn reaches out to grab it, their fingertips brushing.

Zayn looks down at the card to see Robin on the cover, the words "To My Partner in Crime," printed right below it. The card is filled out to say "From: Liam," but isn't addressed to anyone in particular. 

"I didn't know how to spell your name," Liam admits quietly, a sheepish smile on his face. He expects Zayn to think he's an idiot, but Zayn just laughs at the odds of them having matching cards, eyes crinkling at the corners. Liam seems to find this funny, too, and he lets out his own quiet little laugh.

"Thank you," Liam says after a while, to which Zayn looks at him in confusion.

"For what?" he asks, head tilting in question. Liam is the one who gave him the card, after all.

Liam smiles softly at him, though the sad look he had in his eyes is back as he stares at where his shoes scrape against the floor. "You're the only one who got me a card. Everyone else forgot about me, but I got everyone else cards just in case," he says, lifting the box of cards in his hands as a way to prove his point.

Zayn frowns, upset at Liam being left out of the party. He grabs the boy's hand that isn't holding the box and shakes his head, leading him to where all of their classmates are seated around the classroom, talking amongst themselves, "That won't do. It's okay, though. We can still give them out to everyone. I'll help you," he says, determined to wipe the frown off of his new friend's face.

Liam looks at him in surprise, blushing slightly at where their hands are clasped together. "Really? Would it be weird if I gave everyone cards and they didn't get me any?" he asks, unsure about whether or not he'd be making a fool of himself.

Zayn stops and frowns, turning around to look at Liam. He shakes his head, "You're not weird, Liam. They're all mean for not getting you cards, but that doesn't mean you don't have to be nice to them and show them how great you are. It was very nice of you to get them cards." He nods once after his words with a sense of finality, before he's whisking Liam away and helping him pass around the boy's Valentine's day cards.

They're met with happy giggles and a sweet "thank you" from almost everyone as they pass around Liam's DC-themed cards, even from Louis, who seemed to be over the fact that Zayn left him to go talk to someone else. Instead, he gushes over the Superman card Liam hands him, putting his arm around Liam's shoulder and declaring him their new best friend. Liam blushes but nods vigorously, happy to have made not only one, but two new friends in a day who have good taste in superheroes.

The pair help Liam push his desk over to where theirs were huddled together so that they're all sitting close to one another. Zayn smiles as he, Louis, and Liam talk for the rest of the classroom party, going on about different superheroes and their favorite movies and most embarrassing memories. All the while, Zayn refuses to let go of Liam's hand, already protective over the boy with the brightest smile, who he never wants to see frown again.

And when they're much older, they spend Valentine's day a lot differently. Instead of classroom decorations and store-bought cards, they spend it cuddled up together on their couch stuffing their faces with baked goods and watching re-runs of their favorite Marvel and DC movies between kisses, in a constant argument over which of the two is better.

And though Liam will always believe that Batman and the Green Lantern are some of the most complex superheroes, he thinks he'll always let Zayn win if it means he gets to see the other boy smile in contentment at winning their ridiculous little tiff.

And Liam wouldn't change that for anything.

 

{~}

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you all enjoyed! As always, kudos and comments are very appreciated, and I would love to complete any prompts you all may have in mind!


End file.
